Knowing and Understanding
by Inkedaway
Summary: Maxie had always known that May Maple had calmed Groudon down. But knowing and understanding were two entirely different things, as he soon enough realized later on. [[A very slow burn series of oneshots taking place over a unique, overaching timeline, exploring the relationship and growth of these characters]]
1. Tamed

Maxie had always known that May Maple had calmed Groudon down. He'd been there; he'd seen it! He'd been… _more or less present_, at any rate. Granted, he'd been unable to follow her into the Cave of Origins, but he'd been just outside, in the harsh, scorching sunlight. He'd also been 'present' (using the word quite loosely), through the microphone earpiece that her Magma Suit had possessed, guiding her through part of her journey within.

He'd also been there when she'd walked out of that Cave, looking tired, and a little worse for wear but ultimately safe, unharmed and sporting the brightest smile he'd ever seen anyone wear. Almost as if she'd just gone through one of the greatest moments of her life, which was quite unlike he'd been inclined to feel at that moment. Frankly speaking, he'd been _terrified_; though shame did not linger far behind the former sentiment, granted.

Despite the juxtaposition of how he felt versus what she looked like, he'd still done his part; he'd apologized, thanked her and handed her the red orb he'd used to foolishly awaken the ancient pokemon, promising himself change and at least… some sort of attempt at redemption.

Maxie had _known_ all these things. But knowing and _understanding_ were two different things, as he soon enough realized later on.

After the fiasco with his keystone, probably mostly due to the fact he'd still been reeling over the fact she'd actually _given it back to him_, rather than taking it and keeping it well away from his hands… the former evil-gang leader had extended her an offer to stay at their probably-no-longer-entirely-secret-base whenever and however long she wanted to. Offer which, let's face it, he'd actually been expecting her to _never_ actually accept or make use of. Oh, he'd expected a smile from her, a nod even, because May was nice, polite even, but he'd never actually expected her to take him up on his word and show up on a rather frequent basis.

Needless to say… he'd gotten used to it over time. Everyone had; she was a cheerful spirit, and often came with stories or adventures and a sweet smile, as if she didn't care about the fact he'd almost (albeit accidentally) destroyed the whole of the Hoenn Region, not to mention possibly the world, too.

It would have been hard not to grow used to it.

Due to this, he often time found himself quietly working on his new calculations while she lounged on his sofa, tending to his Camerupt's apparently growing need for attention by brushing it's fur. The silence was usually comfortable, and sometimes interrupted by a short session of stories or questions and answers to and fro; it was… nice. And while he wasn't used to 'nice', he'd quickly grown used to that as well.

The comfort of those sessions slowly opened him up more to talking, which was how he'd first brought up the issue; he'd found himself asking her how she thought Groudon was doing, after all this time.

She'd stopped her brushing (eliciting a soft whine from the Camerupt, who swiftly moved his head to nudge her quite insistently - he was still there, and still demanded attention!) and turned to look at him, and he vividly remembered the look of utter confusion on her face before she'd let him know that Groudon was 'fine'.

Despite the curiosity her reaction had elicited (not to mention the general conviction in her voice when she'd answered), Maxie had let the issue slip away, unsure if he really wanted to pursue or not. However, days later, he'd brought the topic up again; this time, he'd made some sort of joke (or rather, a rather lacking attempt at one) about how he was quite certain that Groudon was partial to spicy, hot food.

This time, she'd snorted at him, albeit not unkindly, and had proceeded to tell him that no, Groudon did not only not prefer spicy food, but rather, he had an extremely sweet tooth and much preferred sweet things over the former.

Once again, her conviction had nearly made him falter (he'd almost managed to trip over himself due to them walking down a hallway at the time of the conversation). This time, however, his curiosity was well and truly roused, so Maxie found himself thinking that _fine_, he'd finally bite and take the bait.

As such, he'd found himself asking her how on earth she knew such a fact, and her next answer was even more confusing than her previous one; the girl blinked, looked up at him, looking slightly bewildered, and then proceeded to tell him she'd found this all out through trial and error, of course.

_Of course_.

Because obviously nothing about that notion was odd or out of place. _Of course_. Thrown for a loop (yet again; a second time in so many minutes at that), Maxie had found himself opening his mouth and noting that no intelligent retort came forth to such a statement. Closing his mouth while taking a moment to slide his glasses back up the ridge of his nose, he looked down at the girl and tried his best NOT to imagine a scenario where she'd spent the majority of her 'epic battle' down in the Cave of Origins feeding the ancient pokemon a million pokepuffs.

He was trying… and gloriously failing though.

The other scenario that kept jumping to mind was the idea of May slipping off every day to visit the large, ancient beast in it's dwelling, each time bringing with her more food than the first. Like a child slipping off to feed a puppy they kept in secret in the forest, away from their parents' prying eyes.

He wasn't sure which possibility was more absurd, the former or the later. Thankfully though, May must have noticed his poor brain pulling some sort of blue screen on him, because she silently took his arm and pulled him forward, resuming their walk down the hallway until they reached that rather large (and rather deserted at the moment), common room.

Letting go of his arm, she said something along the lines of, "Here, I'll show you," and then she unhooked one of the pokeballs, which she kept attached to her belt; a Duskball, if he wasn't mistaken. She opened the ball, and swiftly released the creature held within, which slowly formed out of the red light contained within the ball itself.

The creature's formation did absolutely nothing to help his rebooting brain, which promptly proceeded to crash yet _again_ as the large, hulking form of Groudon materialized right there, in the middle of the Team Magma common room. Maxie was sure his thought process at the time went something along the lines of; Oh SHIT! Wait what? Explain! Answers? PLEASE?

Gaping like a fish out of water, he watched as the creature roared upon release and then, after sparing him a very brief glance, turned all of it's attention down at May. He'd had half a mind of grabbing the girl's arm and pulling her behind him, willing to finally right his wrongs and somehow offer himself to appease the beast when his brain slowly… agonizingly slowly started to connect all the dots.

Or at least some of the dots, anyhow. The first thing he realized was the nightmare of a beast had come out of_May's_ pokeball. The second thing he noticed was that it was currently lowering his huge head and somehow managing to nuzzle against the girl's chest with extreme care. The third thing he noticed was that he was still gaping, and thus, took a moment to compose himself as best he could.

By the time he'd managed to rein some semblance of order upon his panicking mind however, the large creature turned away from May and slowly made its way to him instead. Rooted to the spot, Maxie watched as it sniffed his hair and then lowered its head to put them both at eye level; it was from this position that he was able to count the creature's many jagged, huge teeth (all of which would have put Archie's Sharpedo in its mega form to shame).

When the creature moved forth, Maxie had closed his eyes tight, waiting…_waiting_… until he suddenly felt not pain, but a slight nudge around his midsection. Upon opening his eyes, he found the large, intimidating Groudon, the pokemon of legend… snuffling around his pockets, nudging here and there as it searched his person, "W-what is it doing?" he heard his voice crack, falter even as he spoke.

"I think… he thinks you might have a pokepuff. He wants you to feed it to him."

And so, Maxie stood bewildered in the middle of his common room, feeding a small pokepuff to the great creature of legends that formed the land of Hoenn.

It was only then that he came to realize that May hadn't only just calmed down Groudon; she'd _tamed_ him. And if she'd pulled such a feat within such short amount of time within the Cave of Origins on such a noble, intimidating beast… what chances did he stand against her, anyhow?


	2. Inconsistencies

Maxie clearly remembered the day his Keystone had been stolen.

He remembered feeling rather useless at the time, even as the stone was snatched from his glasses; he'd watched the perpetrator walk away from the scene of her crime triumphant, and he'd been unable to do anything to stop it. It was the Groudon incident_ all over again_, and quite frankly, the guilt over losing the stone was not a welcome addition to the shame he'd already been feeling from the near-disaster he'd caused.

There had been no way for him to manage sleep that night, and thus, he'd remain awake, scratching his Camerupt's head as the creature lay on the floor at his feet. The large beast sometimes peeked his eyes open, turning his head to look up as his master mourned (sulked, even), and sometimes let out a soft, deep rumbling in the depths of his throat; an obvious attempt at comfort that unfortunately kept falling short.

Added to the guilt and shame was what he'd identified as actual agitation and worry, both for the pokemon at his feet, whom would never be able to achieve mega-evolution again... and the girl whom had gone to retrieve his keystone. He knew she was capable, for not everyone was able to calm down a creature like Groudon from what he'd snidely come to think of as a rather dramatic temper-tantrum, and yet that small inkling of worry still ate at the back of his mind.

The rest of his agitation was mostly directed at the fact he was well aware he'd never get his Keystone back. His pokemon would never achieve that extra bit of power in battle ever again, and while the loss of power was worrying, it was the fact he felt like a part of him had been stripped right out of him without permission. Like a part of his bond with the pokemon at his feet had been torn to pieces... smashed and it'd never be repaired. After all, it would have been rather counter productive for May to return the stone to him even if she managed to get it back in one piece.

Fortunately for him, he'd recently come to find out that he was, in fact, not always right about everything (a fact which he desperately tried to hide, despite it probably being widely known by now).

He was actually proven quite wrong in all of his assumptions mere hours later, when not only just his Keystone, but his _megastone_ were returned to him, all in one piece and all accompanied by a girl with a brilliant smile.

That's how it'd all started, he'd mused later on; with a smile. That had been the turning point; the proverbial linchpin.

Alas, needless to say, Maxie had been quite blown away not only by her sudden appearance, but by the fact she'd held out her hand and offered him both stones, all in a matter of moments. The exchange had been a silent one; she smiling, and him wearing what was no doubt, the single most baffled expression of his lifetime, because he simply did not _get_ this girl. None of what she did was logical to him; just when he thought that maybe,_ just maybe_, he had her all figured out, she'd veer ridiculously off-course and do something that fell entirely out of all probability charts, leaving him (never better said), completely lost at sea again.

Meanwhile, as he turned to look at his computers, he found his monitors had not shown an intruder alarm. No system alerts; nothing. No one had alerted him whatsoever of the girl's return; as if not just his team members (there was bound to be someone up and about on patrol), but the actual damned _systems_ within the building itself were all trying to let him know that _yes_, the girl was more than welcome within the base.

As such (and also because, let's face it, he was still riding the wave of happiness that the retrieval of the stones had caused him), he'd issued an actual, honest-to-Arceus invitation; he'd told her (before actually thinking things through, granted), that she was most welcome to stay, any time, any day, any _when_, for however long she pleased. In so few words, he'd more or less told her she'd always be welcome there, and though the girl had grinned at him (_grinned!_ She'd actually honest-to-Arceus _grinned_ at him! Why on _earth_?) and thanked him kindly for the invitation before leaving, Maxie was more than slightly convinced that he'd never really see her again.

After all, why would she bother to visit his deep, underground base when there was a whole, wide world out there, ready to be explored? Still, he'd done his part; he'd issued the invitation and thus, put the whole thing to rest. He'd even been been nice enough to shove the ball back into her court, so she could proceed however she saw fit in the future.

And so... that was that. Maxie had put the whole situation behind him, and proceeded an attempt at redemption for both himself and his team... eager to prove not only to himself, but to everyone else that he could do this. If that girl could calm down Groudon from a god forsaken temper tantrum, he could put his intelligence to better use.

Unfortunately, this was... much easier said than done. Leading a criminal organisation for so long had taught him a great many things, but most of them useless for these endeavors, and thus needless to say, his next couple of days were long and very tiring. He spent long hours of the night pondering, thinking, calculating... which was why he barely got any sleep at night, and in turn was why he'd been waking up later and later as the couple of days passed by.

Despite his slightly altered sleeping habits, life at the base remain mostly unchanged, and thus was why Maxie was completely caught off guard just a handful of days after the Keystone incident.

Having only just managed to drag himself out of his bed, grabbed a coffee mug and made his way to his office quarters... he hadn't really expected any surprises upon entering the room.

Instead, what he got was another clear bout of evidence that he really did not understand May, because the girl was right _there_, sitting in the middle of the room, reclined against his Camerupt, while his Mightyena and his Crobat (all three of whom should have technically been keeping guard of the office while he slept), squabbled over who got to have most of the girl's attention and pokepuffs.

Maxie felt the grip of his hand loosen around the handle of his mug, which instantly dropped and crashed on the floor below.

This, of course, gathered the attention of his three pokemon, all of which offered him extremely sheepish expressions, and the girl whom smiled at him from her spot on the floor.

"I... I think you dropped your coffee," she said helpfully, apparently thinking that her being there, in the middle of the room, surrounded by his pokemon... was the most mundane of normal things, "Do you uhm... need help with that?" she pressed when she was greeted by silence on his part.

What the poor girl didn't know was that Maxie was in the middle of having a slight panic attack for several reasons, and thus, due to this, was being a rather poor host, being unable to talk to her. You see, he was currently dressed informally, having only just gotten out of bed; his hair was in absolute disarray and he distinctly recalled having put on a rather unappealing looking robe over his informal clothes.

Needless to say, his brain was the middle of doing a rather impressive imitation of a running, headless chicken, and he was having trouble reining it in and trying to figure out why this girl was simply _sitting _there,_ smiling_ at him!

Several hours (and several cups of coffee) later, he'd managed to figure out that May's presence was, in fact, not due to any sort of emergency or need for his help (nor was it a joke or a trap, as his rather paranoid mind had seemed to insist it was). She was there simply because she'd felt like it and because she'd wanted to see him. Them. _All of them_.

And would wonders _ever_ cease?

Apparently not, because that had been merely one of many,_ many_ visits, and while he had at first questioned her mental health (_vocally_ at one point), he'd grown used to her presence at the base. To the point he no longer almost tripped if he saw her walking and talking eagerly down the halls with Tabitha; he no longer backtracked to make sure he'd actually seen her sitting down in a corner of a room with Courtney, both in amiable silence, reading some book or other together.

He no longer felt the need to look over his shoulder as he worked, to make sure his mind was, in fact, not playing tricks on him; that the girl was, really, _actually_ lounging on his sofa, playing with his damned pokemon like they were_ hers_.

Maxie grew used to it and simply... stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop, because he wasn't _always_ right in his assumptions, as life had recently taught him, and maybe a good thing was simply a good thing once in a while. He decided he was in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth.


	3. Apologies

_Thunk, thunk, thunk..._

The sound probably vibrated with force through the halls of the Team Magma hideout, but honestly, at that current moment in time, Maxie simply could _not_ bring himself to care. And so... the noise continued, diligent and mostly uninterrupted but for the soft whining of the large Camerupt at his feet, who had apparently taken it upon itself to nudge its owner every three _'thunks'_ in an attempt to get him to stop. So far, its endeavors had been completely useless, as Maxie continued to lift his forehead softly off of the wall of his room, only to let it falls back upon it, creating the soft _'thunking'_ sound that traveled through the halls.

_Thunk, thunk, thunk..._ it went, time and time again, and it would have continued, entirely unrelenting had it not been for Tabitha's appearance at the teleporter.

The other man's head was bowed, eyes squinted almost shut as he scanned the tablet he was getting readings off of; he knew the base like the palm of his hand, and thus... often traveled the place without looking up. Which was why he wasn't immediately surprise upon entering Maxie's quarters, "Boss, there's been reports of a persistently annoying sound, coming from all the way around one wanted to come check and-" it was right about then that Tabitha finally lifted his head, his gaze focusing on his boss, rather than on the numbers and letters flickering rapidly over the screen of his tablet. His mouth, which had remain open, mid sentence, snapped shut as he watched Maxie _thunk, thunk, thunk-ing _away his head against the wall of his room, "I... what are you doing, sir?" he paused, and then he shook his head, even before Maxie could answer, "Actually, no. Never mind. I'd much rather know why you're doing it," he said, "And is it at all related to the fact May's in the common room, looking like she's sulking up a storm as she consumes Groudon's weight in ice cream?"

The sound finally stopped as Maxie let his forehead rest on top of the wall, and then slowly, _agonizingly slowly_... turned his head, with forehead still resting on said wall, just so that he could offer his second in command the sourest expression he had probably ever pulled off in his life.

"_Wow_," Tabitha drawled out as he peeked open one of his eyes, "Should've used that expression back a few months ago, boss; might've helped us back in the day," his leader's reaction to the words, which were obviously meant as a soft jab, was a mere grunt before he turned his head and focused his glare on the wall. Tabitha then slowly turned to look down at the poor Camerupt, who whined mournfully up at him, "What happened? Did you guys get owned in the Battle Maison today?"

Maxie's response this time was something akin to a cringe and a silent snarl as he closed his eyes. But other than remaining horribly tense, much like a spring, forehead still against the wall... he nor budged nor spoke up.

"I'll take that as a no?" the Camerupt emitted another soft, mournful whine as Tabitha lifted his tablet back up, scanning over several readings before turning back to his boss, "Well, whatever happened... in my experience, apologizing usually works," he paused and frowned slightly, his tone of voice tainted with slight disapproval, "Probably much more productive and _intelligent_ than giving yourself a concussion, sir," that said, the man turned around and headed back towards the teleporter, his head bowed over his tablet once more. At least... until he reached the device, at which point he turned and looked over his shoulder with a mild frown, "You know, sir, for someone so intelligent, you can be awfully dense sometimes," and that said, the Team Magma second in command teleported away.

And so, Maxie realized he had two choices; he could continue to wallow in his apparent misery (He was, after all, managing to sulk up quite the storm of epic proportions; it'd taken time and effort to build up such a sulk), or he could take his second in command's advice.

Slowly pushing himself away from the wall, he glared at it, and actually seemed to consider his options a few more moments before he let out a soft, defeated sigh, turning to look down at the Camerupt who still remain diligently standing by his side. The creature offered him a strange, sad look, which only served to make Maxie feel even _more_ guilty than before (He was sure that girl had taught his pokemon that look - he did not remember them pulling such stunts on him before her). Still, after a moment or two, he let out another sigh and then... "Fine," he said softly through gritted teeth, "_Fine_," he said again, and then, after casting one last glare at the wall (as if the poor thing were, in fact, to blame for all his troubles and the mild headache he could feel brewing), the-not-so-great-Maxie marched his way towards the teleporter, pokemon in tow.

She wasn't hard to find.

Tabitha had been right; the girl was, indeed, in the common room, sitting at a table at the furthermost corner of the place. She'd apparently had her fill of ice cream though, because she lay with her chin on the table, eyes hooded and looking as if her whole world had shattered to pieces. Several bowls of ice cream lay around her fallen head, in different states of consumption (some entirely eaten, some only half eaten, and others barely touched or simply spilled over the table in a colorful chaos of epic proportions).

That right there, was the same girl that had not just managed to calm Groudon down, but had, in fact, _tamed_ the large beast, armed with a few pokeballs and what Maxie had no doubt had been a brilliant smile at the time.

There was a strange, almost eerie juxtaposition of images of her in his mind, and had he not already come with the intention of apologizing, he would've probably done so regardless, because he had to admit; the scene tugged at him.

As he approached, he noticed that his Crobat was currently perched on the girl's backside and head, peering down at her as best it could from its current position. After a moment or two, when it heard his approach, it lifted its head and offered its owner a glare worthy of a Zangoose, "You," he drawled at the bat, "Are a traitor," the response he got from the Crobat was a small, obviously upset hiss and then it flapped its wings and flew up to the ceiling of the room, where it perched upside down and continued to glare down at him.

The Crobat's magnificent glare was joined by May's slightly less incensed one. In all honesty, the girl was offering him a look somewhere between 'wounded puppy' and 'upset, hissy kitten', which really, fell rather short of being intimidating. In fact, he was actually quite sure this was the first time he could recall her reacting in any way other than prolific amounts of positivity towards any given situation (negative or not).

He stored that notion in the back of his brain for further dissection, later on, when he was alone and not on a _mission_. Food for thought for sure. For now, however, he focused his gaze on the glaring girl, whom after a few moments of silence, made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat and turned her head away from him; something which she'd also never done before.

Before he could open his mouth to speak, a small hiss came from the general direction of the ceiling, and a small pebble fell on the top of his head. A grunt was elicited from the Magma Team leader as he raised his hand, rubbed his head, and then aimed a sharp glare at his Crobat, which hissed again, sounding much more disappointed than it did angry.

"I am sorry."

It was finally said, but silent seconds ticked by before the girl finally turned her head to look back at him; when she did, Maxie was surprised and a little bit dismayed to see the hint of vague skepticism in her eyes, which reminded him more of himself than it did of her (and _good lord_, was he actually _rubbing off on her_?!). May squinted her eyes and looked up at him fiercely, scrutinizing him, as if trying to find any little bit of lie in those words.

Fortunately for him, he might have been a bit of a prideful idiot, but he didn't often speak up unless he meant it, and thus... the girl found no lie, "I was angry and I took it out on you. I was wrong," and _ooooh_, how that fact still _hurt _his pride; Maxie was not a man that had ever been truly used to being 'wrong', "And I apologize," he stressed the last word out and then, slowly uncurled one of his hands from behind his back and offered it for her to take.

May remain silent for a moment or two before she finally cracked a smile; it was small, but it grew in force. However, before she was able to take his hand, the girl groaned out loud and thunk-ed her head over the table, squeezing her eyes shut.

"May?" Another long, drawn out groan was his response, his hand hovering over the girl's form, unsure of what he should do.

"I think..." she licked her lips, "I think I might've overdosed on ice cream," she mumbled from her position, which was much reminiscent from his previous one, against the wall of his room, "My stomach hurts," and that said, she raised her head to eye him pitifully. The apology had apparently been enough, because the girl was back to her normal (albeit slightly ice-cream-intoxicated) self, "Help me. _Please_."

"Defeated by ice cream," he said as he arched a brow, "If I had known..." this earned him a small glare without heat, but still the girl finally took his offered hand and he decided to make his apology count by helping her; tea and nice, hot pack should suffice.

After all, it wasn't every day that the girl that had saved the world _twice_ needed his help.


	4. Patience

Getting used to normal, every day occurrences was… _hard_ for Maxie.

He'd spent the better part of a few years either coped up in a lab or literally buried underground, hidden away from the world, inside the refuge of a secret base. While it was true that he hadn't really ever been a complete shut in… walking around, simply for the pleasantry of walking around had _never_ been on the agenda.

Pokemon contests had also never really been on the agenda before. Nor had 'socializing' ever really been near the top of any of his to-do lists; in fact, the term hadn't been on any of said lists_ at all_. And at the moment, he was attempting two of those three things (for which Maxie felt he deserved a pat on the back, really).

Granted, he still found the whole idea of sitting inside a stadium full of people as they watched pokemon and their owners perform… _uncomfortable_. The awkwardness of the whole situation would have lessened somewhat had he not been sitting _right smack_ beside former-Champion Steven Stone. But then again, Maxie had begun to realize that life was simply out to make him pay for his past deeds, and that being put into awkward, _uncomfortable_ situations seemed to be its way of making him pay his dues. As such, he felt he was being a perfect sport by sitting quietly beside the former champion, without so much as a snide comment; that should also be worth another good pat on the back.

For his part, Steven had been quite silent during the performance, though the man _did_ turn every now and again to offer the Magma leader a small, silent glare. The silence between them stretched long and hard… at least, until the former champion finally let out a sigh, "I don't think she should be visiting you guys," he said just loud enough for the red-headed man beside him to hear, "I don't think it's proper for her to be anywhere _near_ your base."

Maxie slid his gaze and attention towards the man beside him, but otherwise said nothing for a beat or two; a pokemon on stage was performing a move, and it'd require a round of applause from the audience in just a few seconds, and thus… he waited. When the audience cheered, both men, whom were seated near the back of the stadium applauded, but neither seemed to be paying too much attention to the show in question, "I agree," he finally said as the crowd calmed down, "But I don't really think it's either of our places to tell her what she can and can not do, Stone. I believe Miss Maple is more than capable of making her own choices," another round of applause cut his words short, and again Maxie applauded with the audience, as the situation required, "She's also a capable fighter. Might I remind you that she's bested not just me, but you too in battle?"

Steven opened his mouth and then closed it with a frown, much of his previous anger washing away for a moment or two, "Well, true…" he turned his gaze away from the Magma leader and focused back on the stage; May was, in fact, making her appearance at that very moment, pikachu at her side, "I just…" he shut his mouth again, still frowning as he considered the other man's words, leaving his own hanging, open to interpretation.

"You are worried."

The former champion's gaze was torn from the stage, surprised for a moment or two, "Well, _yes_. Of course I am."

"Understandable," came Maxie's reply, "But I would put a little bit more faith in her," he drawled, "The girl _did_ manage to _tame_ Groudon, after all," his words were meant as comfort for the other man, after all, while it was true that Maxie did not really particularly… _like_ Steven Stone, his reasons were mostly biased, and he didn't really _hate_ him either. Not really. That aside, he had promised himself to act civil around the former champion; he (and his team) had been pardoned, and it was literally the _least_ thing he could do.

As such, when Maxie's head turned to gaze upon Steven, he was vaguely surprised to see the blue haired man staring at him with a rather baffled, confused expression upon his face, "What?" came the former-champion's voice, "What are you talking about? What do you mean…_tamed_?"

Maxie frowned in confusion until it dawned upon him, "Ah," he said, almost as if everything in the world was suddenly right; as if everything suddenly made sense once more, "I see," he had always figured that if the girl had shown him Groudon, she'd most certainly shared its existence with Steven Stone. This was apparently… _not the case_, "Well, that's interesting."

"You see _what_? What are you talking about? What's interesting?"

And it was right around here that Maxie decided to toss his previous notions of civility out the proverbial window, because it had simply been _so long_ since he'd managed to have the upper hand in a conversation like this. Frankly, he felt that with his general, all around mostly 'good' behavior that night, he'd earned the right to yank the other man's chain for a while, "Oh… well, it's not really my place to-"

"Maxie," the blue haired man's voice adopted a soft, yet dangerous edge to it, but the Magma leader seemed entirely unperturbed by it.

"Don't look at me like that, Stone. If you're not privy to such information…" he drawled calmly, though inside his head, Maxie was starting some sort of count down; _3, 2, 1… and…_

"_Maximilian!_"

_And there it was_, Maxie thought with no short amount of triumph; Steven Stone's last shred of proverbial patience. He decided that poking the dragon had it's limits and that it was probably in his best interest to satisfy the other man's curiosity before it brought him some sort of unforeseen trouble, "I take it from your exasperation and general confusion that you never deigned it necessary to ask Miss Maple about Groudon's general well being after the incident?"

Steven Stone was by no means an angry man; it was hard for him to maintain any sort of anger outside small outbursts, and at Maxie's question, the man deflated back down into utter confusion once more, "What? No, of course not. _Why_?" a pause followed, "Should I have _done_ so?"

"Well, if you had done so, you'd have come to find that Miss May Maple keeps Groudon in a pokeball, latched around her waist," the Magma leader's head turned away from the spectacle on stage just in time to see poor Steven's brain break; Maxie could have even pinpointed the _exact_ moment in time when it happened, given the fact the former champion was more or less an open book.

"You're _joking_."

"Tell me, Stone; do I strike you as the joker type? I _do not_ joke," Maxie drawled. A smug expression had come over his features, "In a duskball, if memory serves me right, by the way. Ask her," he couldn't help the smirk that stretched upon his features; it really did feel good to have the upper hand once more. It was also rather hilarious to watch the bafflement and near panic attack Steven was going through, given he was quite sure it'd mirrored his own reaction to learning about about the large beast's current location.

There was silence, and then loud cheering as May finished her performance on stage, and Maxie turned to offer an applause, and if he applauded louder than he had before, for the other contestants… well, it was probably lost in the roar of cheering anyhow.

After the winners were announced and he'd given May his congratulations on her win, Maxie had stepped outside of the auditorium, to give Steven some time to talk to her… but mostly because he needed a break from crowds and people. There was, after all, only so much he could take; baby steps, he'd figured, and thus, he'd gone off for a short walk through the city in an attempt to relax and unwind.

By the time he got back to the pokemon contest arena, it was deserted; the crowds had left. It was, well…_mostly_ deserted anyhow; Steven Stone sat alone on one of the front row seats of the arena, looking almost lifelessly and vacantly at an empty spot, just a few meters away on stage.

Maxie knew that look. He'd_ worn_ that same look.

"I take it you asked her, then, if your expression is anything to go by," he told the other man as he approached and sat down, twining his fingers together over his chest. There was, however, no response from the former champion, whom continued to stare unblinkingly at the empty spot on stage, "Stone?" still no answer, and thus, Maxie let out a sigh, "Steven," he said, "If it serves as any sort of comfort, I near had a heart attack when she showed me. The girl released that thing in the middle of the Magma common room, and I near fainted when I saw it."

Steven slowly dragged his gaze away from the stage and turned to look at the man beside him, opening his mouth and then closing it. Several times did this happen, but still no sound was produced until suddenly the former champion was able to choke out a garble of words, "S-she scratched its belly," came the poor man's croaking voice, "The thing rolled over, Maxie," he stammered, "It rolled over, and she scratched its stomach."

"Yes, well," came the red-head's calm drawl, "I reiterate; She's more than capable of looking after herself, Stone, as you've been privy to," that said, the Magma leader pushed himself out of his seat and stood, "Though your worry is probably a good thing, it is misplaced. Is she still in the changing room?"

Steven, still feeling horribly dazed, offered the other man a very small nod, and then watched him leave the auditorium. He… would stay there a while still; he wasn't quite sure his legs could carry him at the current moment.


	5. Gifts

Maxie had never really had all that much time to celebrate Christmas (or any other holiday) before. His work had been his life, and he'd drowned himself in it, metaphorically speaking. His team members had though, of course, but he'd never really… allowed himself to be pulled into all the festive cheer, despite Tabitha's and Courtney's best efforts and attempts at doing so. All in all, hindsight was a bit of a pain, because lately, the Magma leader was starting to realize he'd not been particularly happy with his life at all, and he was actually surprised there were people that had _still_ stayed by his side despite it all. By all means, they shouldn't have felt any sort of loyalty; he didn't feel like he'd done as much for them as they had for him, and it was not only a baffling thought but also carried along with it a warmth that he knew had little to do with his comfortable clothes.

Granted, he wasn't a bucket of rainbows and sunshine now a days either; people didn't change in such extreme ways, and he didn't really _want_ to change who he was at the core. He'd been shown that he didn't really _need_ to change all that much anyhow; May still showed up on a near daily-basis, and for unknown, _baffling_ reasons… seemed to actually enjoy his company.

No tricks. No ulterior motives. No traps.

It was a daunting idea, and being the paranoid person that he was, Maxie had once-upon-a-time actually asked her why she kept visiting. _Why_ was she sitting there, on that sofa when she could have been literally anywhere, sharing her time with anyone else in the world.

She could have been with Steven, Brendan or even Archie, all of whom, he had to admit, had much sunnier, nicer and altogether much more pleasant dispositions than he had. So _why_ was she there on that sofa?

The girl had looked at him in confusion (because apparently confusion tended to go both ways during their shared time together - Maxie felt as if it'd been a prominent sentiment at the very start of those visits, and while it had lessened considerably… was still present even _now_). She had frowned slightly at the time and then seemed to go inward, as if pondering his words. After a few beats, she had finally looked back up at him, and despite the fact Maxie knew they were sitting several meters apart, his whole world had zeroed in on her (it was an unusual, and rather strange sensation, to say the least), "I like you," she'd said, "Do I really need a reason to come around here? I thought…" and here she had faulted a bit, obviously unsure of herself, her hands, which had previously been busy grooming his Camerupts' fur… stilling, "I thought I was welcome here."

Unfortunately for poor, poor May, Maxie had kind of stopped listening to her somewhere around the word '_like_', which his mind had been entirely unable to process at the time. In fact, his mouth had opened before he was even aware of it, "_Why_?" it had been an honest question; he simply couldn't wrap his usually sharp mind around the concept.

"Do I really need a reason?" the girl had still seemed a bit confused, surprised even, but the sentiments had lessened in the sheer light of his own bafflement. She had, however, decided to throw him a bone, because after a few beats, she began to count on her fingers, "You're smart, you're passionate about what you like and you're interesting. You also seem willing to learn!" here she'd paused and offered him a winning smile, "Also, you own a Crobat."

His mind, which had slowly begun to recover, seemed to halt and latch onto her last statement, "Meaning?" he'd been reduced to single words, which was both humiliating and strangely new for someone that prided himself on being a walking, talking dictionary.

"Well, I remember that the first time that I really paused and _looked_ at you… the first time I really _saw_ you, was when you sent out your Crobat against me," she'd said, finally returning to her task of grooming the Camerupt, whom let out a sigh of contentment at being once again, more or less, the center of attention, "I figured there had to be a little bit more to you than met the eye, if you owned a Crobat."

And that had been that.

Maxie had been, at the time, too blown away by the revelation to continue any sort of intelligent conversation, and she herself, had never really revisited the topic in question.

Still, the fact remain that he didn't particularly posses the sunniest disposition, but he did _try_. He still put forth effort, and as such, when the time for a Christmas party had come around… he'd even attempted to have _fun_ (even if his definition of fun differed greatly from the rest of the worlds'; he'd have much rather been sitting by a fireplace, with a nice book in hand). He had not really anticipated May's appearance at the Magma party; she'd had places to be, and people to see after all. However, she'd let him know that he'd already stopped by all the places convention deemed necessary, and that the Magma base was the last on her list.

The celebration had been… _fine_. It had been… simply just '_okay_', though that whole reading and fireplace scenario would have been the by far superior choice, as far as Maxie was concerned. It could have been worse though. Much, _much_ worse, and thus, content with the outcome, (not to mention tired out from the commotion) he'd slipped away unnoticed from the feast.

He figured baby steps were in order, and that he'd endured quite enough time at the party, which warranted him a safe, slightly early retreat back to his office.

What he had not expected (though really, by now he probably should have) was for May to follow him, just a scant hour later; there was no knocking for lack of door, but the teleporter was a dead giveaway, and very few people would have dared to follow him. Two of which were currently probably occupied with the party.

To her credit, the girl did pause as she peeked around the corner of the hallway that led to the teleporter, "Am I bothering you?" her arms were, amusingly enough, wrapped around a pokemon egg, which needless to say was… intriguing.

Maxie, whom had been sitting at the sofa, with that book he'd been craving all afternoon, looked up and silently shook his head. At this, May offered him a smile and approached, flopping herself down on the sofa as if she her world had brightened just a touch at not being deemed a 'bother' (he was still having trouble figuring out why she _cared _what he thought), "Here," she said as she extended her arms, offering him the egg she'd been carrying, "This is for you. You left before I could give it to you, so I had to follow," she sounded almost sheepish, as if she knew he'd retired from the party for a reason, and hadn't really wanted to interrupt, "I'm sorry."

Maxie had been stunned into silence by her offering, but by the time her apology came, the Magma leader had shaken himself out of his stupor, and slowly extended his arms to take the egg from her, "You are always welcome here," it was an echo of something he'd said in the past, but it apparently bore repeating, even if his words did come out softer than he'd intended them to. If May noticed, she said nothing however.

As he continued to look at the egg that now sat on his lap, the girl offered him another smile and continued talking, "It should hatch soon. I timed it. Made sure it'd hatch _juuuuust_ on time. So be ready," she paused for a moment and seemed to ponder, "I would get myself some anti-chomping gear or something, if I were you though."

"Thank you," Maxie stroked the egg once, and was about ready to ask her how she'd gone about timing the hatching when a thought struck him and he narrowed his eyes, "May," he drawled, "What kind of pokemon is in this egg?"

"It's a surprise! You'll see as soon as it hatches. Should be soon!"

"_May_."

"What?" she sounded absolutely innocent as she looked up at him, but he was no fool; he could see the edge of mischief, twinkling right there, in the corner of her eye.

His eyes narrowed further, as he lifted the hand he'd been resting on the egg, "May, this better not be a _Carvanha_," he watched as the girl's smile widened for a moment and she devolved into laughter. She sounded honestly amused, and though she wasn't lost into hysterics, she did take a few moments to collect herself, "If this a _Carvanha_ egg…" _I swear, so help me_, he thought to himself.

"Geez, _no_! It's not a _Carvanha_ egg," she said after a few moments, "Besides, I thought you'd made up with Archie by now?" May received a slightly sour look as the Magma leader placed his hand back on the egg, no longer reluctant to touch it, "It really isn't a Carvanha egg, I promise."

Maxie knew his dislike for that particular pokemon was childish, but he figured he was allowed to retain his dislike of Sharpedos for just a little longer. He'd outgrow it eventually, he was sure, but for now… he rather not train one. Or be anywhere _near_ one, if he could help it, "Well then," he said after the few moments of comfortable silence which followed, "I figure you have saved me the trouble of having to find you tomorrow," that said, he balanced the egg on his lap with one hand, and then used his other one to dig around one of the pockets of his jacket, pulling out a small, but brilliant, rainbow colored stone, "You gave mine back to me, and so you were left with none. I figured I should remedy that."

The cameruptite fell into May's outstretched hands, "Maxie… you didn't have to," she looked down at the stone and then back up at the Magma leader, "I gave yours back to you because… it was _yours_," she paused and then frowned slightly, "Besides, I don't have a Camerrupt or a Numel."

"Yes you do."

"No," she countered, looking more and more baffled as the seconds passed, "I _really_ don't."

"Yes," he mimed, albeit not unkindly, "You _really_ do," given all the confusion he'd been made to suffer at the hands of the girl sitting by his side, Maxie decided to prolong her own for just a few moments further before he once again stuck his hand into his coat. After a few moments of searching, he pulled out a pokeball, which he tapped and made large, releasing the creature that had been dormant within.

A small, vacant-eyed numel materialized on the ground before them; a rather large, almost stupid looking red ribbon was tied around its neck. After looking around, it _slooooowly_ turned its hooded eyes upon both humans. Its colors differed greatly from all other Numels May had ever set her eyes upon; this one had a large, blue marking on its hump, rather than the normal green.

"Maxie, it's…"

"Yes, yes it is," came the Magma leader's voice, which had adopted a small note of triumph at her awe, "We breed Numels here at the base, and Tabitha showed it to me a few weeks ago when it hatched. We decided you should keep it," he watched as the girl bent over and placed the creature on her lap, "You seemed adamant on grooming mine, so I figured you might want one all your own."

"Thank you, Maxie, I…" she paused as she watched the creature turn its head to look up at her as she spoke, "Er… why does it keep turning towards me expectantly whenever I say the word 'Maxie'?" she watched as the creature tilted its head at her, "See? There it goes again!"

The Magma leader patted the egg on his lap again, allowing a soft sigh to escape him, "Tabitha hatched it," he drawled, "He decided to nickname the thing as such," he let out a mock-sigh, "As an _homage_," a pause, "I am deeply considering demoting him after the holiday season."

"No you're not," the girl grinned, vacant-eyed Numel in her arms as she finally stood up, "Your bark's worse than your bite," she chuckled to herself and then slowly made her way towards the hallway that led to the teleporter. May only turned to look over her shoulder once she'd reached the device in question, "Have a good night, and thanks!" that said, she vanished from the room, which soon enough returned to it's previous peace and quiet.

It left Maxie alone to contemplate not just the egg on his lap, but the girl that had left.


	6. Overachieving

It hadn't taken long for it to dawn on Maxie that for all of May's brilliance in battle and general worth where strategizing was concerned… the girl was something of a terribly klutz. This, however, seemed to stem more from the fact she seemed absolutely determined to bite off more than she could chew than actual, general clumsiness on her part.

Granted, this wouldn't have been an actual problem if she had been a slightly more _selfish_ person;that is to say… May often time spent much more effort and resources on trying to make others feel adequate and comfortable than she did looking out for her own, general well being (which was more or less the problem). However, the girl was as selfless as they came, and for the most part, tended to ignore her own needs in favor of others'. It apparently didn't seem to matter in her mind if the one that needed help was a small, helpless Caterpie, or an adult human being; she rushed forth with all her might and glory, and though luck was usually on her side… her tendency to rush in without a plan did have _consequences_ at times.

It was during such times that the Magma leader closed his eyes, raised his head to the sky and silently wondered _how_ on earth she'd managed to jump in and stomp all over his careful, meticulously laid out plans with hardly a smidgen of effort, and he was deeply, _deeply_ ashamed of himself for allowing her to do so. It was a rather conflicting sentiment, because the shame was coupled with gratitude; had she not managed to crush his plans, well… it was probable he wouldn't have had a future, full stop.

It was all rather frustrating, sometimes, but such was life.

One of the first times that Maxie had noticed May's tendency to _overachieve_ was when she'd tripped and nearly fallen down the _only_ staircase in the Magma hideout. The girl had been walking down the steps with not one, not two… but rather, a whole _ten_ different book tomes in her arms.

The movement had caught his eye, and had thus, distracted him somewhat from the conversation he and Tabitha were having at the foot of the stair; he recalled looking up and… being entirely unable to see the girl's face, for it'd been hidden behind a tower of books. The scene would have been comical, and he felt a small comment beginning to form in the dark crevices of his mind (It was a small wonder she didn't seem particularly upset at his often time dark humor - though he did try to tone it down for her on occasion, fearful she'd one day grow sick and tired).

Tabitha's voice had slowly dragged him back to the conversation at hand and thus, comment forgotten for the time being, he'd slid his gaze away from the rather comical scene in order to answer his second in command. Unfortunately, in the time it'd taken him to shift his gaze away from her, May had managed to trip, and the fact her arms were full of books (which he honestly failed to understand what she was _doing_ with in the first place - it'd have been much simpler to take one, read that, replace it and then repeat the process - sometimes logic didn't seem to apply to her or her actions and thoughts however), made it impossible for her to regain her balance or even grab onto something to stop her fall. The result was that she began to tilt forward, threatening to fall over and crash.

Maxie had acted entirely on instinct, apparently, as Tabitha had detailed later; all he could remember was that he was suddenly greeted with an armful of slightly-dazed-May. He'd managed to catch her with one arm, bracing his other on the wall, before she'd tumbled after the books and tomes that cascaded down the steps and onto to floor below

After righting herself, apologizing and helping Tabitha pick up the scattered tomes (all in an embarrassed, rapid flurry of words and movements), May had explained herself and then _rushed off_, all before Maxie had even had the time to collect his thoughts and jump-start his mind out of second gear.

Apparently, she'd been doing _research_ into something or other, the specifics of which he hadn't quite caught, to be honest, (which was all fine and good; she'd proven herself to be intelligent and sharp enough to not only track him down when they'd been playing cat and mouse across the whole of Hoenn, but _stop_ him, too). She had gained herself free access to his files, tomes and books, both old and new; what he hadn't expected was for her to try to move half a bookcase in one go, without help, _all on her own_. She'd later explained that his storage room was not the most comfortable place to sit and read, but still, he thought she should have asked for help. There was, after all, a base full of grunts around her, and all of them would have been more than willing to lend her a hand (some of them were even quite _smitten_ with her, from what he'd seen), not to mention pokemon.

Granted, he could very well see how past events might have given her the illusion that she was, in fact, _nigh invincible_ and completely capable of doing anything and _everything_ under the sun, even when the laws of physics dictated otherwise, but still. Maxie figured someone was going to end up having to grab her, sit her down and explain to her that despite her best efforts, she was not going to be able to tame the laws of physics in the same way she had Groudon (not to mention his team, himself included). Physics, Biology and science in general simply didn't work quite like that, after all; sheer will power had little to do in such scenarios.

Given his less than stellar track record where awkward situations were concerned… the Magma leader also figured that that _'someone'_ would end up having to be _him_. And yet, at the same time, he didn't particularly think his track record in life gave him the right to sit the girl-whom-had-saved-the-world-twice and lecture her in such a way.

As such, time passed, and he did nothing of the sort, though perhaps… he _should_ have.

The next, prominent time Maxie had been privy to May's strange _need_ to be helpful was when she'd taken it almost entirely upon herself to spring clean the base.

He'd walked into the common room one day to find her standing precariously on top of her large Amaura's head, trying to reach the far-off Spinarak cobwebs in the cavernous ceiling up above. A rather agitated Tabitha was standing by the large fossil pokemon's side, wringing his hands as he looked up at her, insisting that there was no need for this.

"What in the name of Groudon…?" upon entry, Maxie had been reading some reports, and thus, when his mind slowly focused on the scene in front of him, he was obviously slightly confused.

At the sound of his voice, his second in command had turned sharply towards him, his crimson eyes wide open, "She won't _listen_ to me!" he said, sounding very obviously and openly frustrated (though Maxie did note the other man was doing a rather impressive job at keeping his temper in check - he didn't even stomp his foot), "I told her," he continue, "_I TOLD her_ this wasn't necessary! That we'd tend to those cobwebs ourselves! But she just won't _listen_!"

By this time, Maxie had managed to wander over to the Amaura's side, looking up to watch as May stretched her arms in an attempt to reach the webs, "Ah, yes," he drawled slowly, just loud enough for Tabitha to hear, "Welcome to my world," he then raised his voice for the young Champion to hear, "Your position is precarious," he told her, "I strongly advice you come down from there."

"But…" and here she seemed to hesitate; apparently what he had to say had a stronger effect on her than what Tabitha had been telling her for the past half and hour, "I want to help."

"We can send Crobat and Weezing up there later," he told her, a hand reaching out unconsciously to pat the Amaura's side, "They will be able to take care of it without putting their lives at-"

Maxie never got to finish his phrase, for when the girl turned to look down at him from over her shoulder… she lost her balance and slipped from her perch on the Amaura's head.

Her landing was… nowhere near as _neat_ as her previous one down the stairs, and although both Maxie and Tabitha reached out for her (not to mention her own Pokemon), the end result for Maxie was, yet again, an armful of very daze, slightly panicked May. Granted, this time he'd stumbled back a few paces, collided against Tabitha in the process, and then against the wall, knocking the back of his head painfully against it.

After a few moments of silence, Maxie finally lifted his head off the wall, where he'd been resting it in an attempt to clear the red haze of pain clouding his vision, "We," he said, much more calmly than he felt (both the adrenaline rush going through his system, and the girl in his arms not really contributing to his general need to keep a straight face and a calm tone of voice), "Are going to have a serious talk about _overachieving_."

Unfortunately, despite his conviction at the time, said talk had never really ever happened.

Which of course, brought him to his current predicament, and the source of all the introspection and reminiscing; he had a sofa full of _very _distressed, upset May, whom seemed determined to end her career as Champion of the region, and instead spend the rest of her life cocooned inside a what he could only describe as a fortress of cushions, pillows and blankets.

When she'd walked into his study, Maxie had only just barely lifted his gaze off from the papers on his desk (it was such a common occurrence now-a-days, that he actually noticed her absence more than her presence). However, the sight of her dragging a cushion, a pillow and what looked like a large, long, heavy blanket… made him falter somewhat.

He watched in silence as the girl climbed up on top of the sofa and then proceeded to cover herself up, from head to toes inside the blanket and other items she'd procured from only _Arceus_ knew where. His gaze turned towards his Crobat, whom had been perched on the back of the sofa, and the creature blinked back at him, his confusion reflected within the large bat's golden, glowing eyes.

Long, silent moments passed, during which the Magma Leader attempted to work, figuring that the girl would, in time, emerge from her self-made cocoon if he let her be. However, when the minutes turned into an hour and she had not yet spoken, he finally figured it was time for some sort of an intervention, "May?"

"May does not exist," came the muffled reply, "Only _shame_."

Well, that was… _new_.

His Crobat offered him yet another glance, and he finally pushed himself away from his desk in order to take a seat on the sofa, careful not to re-arrange or otherwise disturb her little fortress, "Would you care to elaborate?" he said as he sat down, and though it did take a few moments of silence, her face _did_ finally peek out from under the bulk of the blanket.

"I was called to make a speech at the inauguration of some new, Devon Corp installations," she mumbled unhappily, and while interesting news (he hadn't had time to peek at the BuzzNav), it didn't really explain her current state. As such, Maxie remain silent, waiting, patient, as he had learned that this behavior was all the prompting usually needed to make her elaborate, "I fell off the _stage_," her voice sounded absolutely devastated, and her blanket soon enough came up to cover her face; the rest of her words were muffled by the barrier between them, "I fell off the stage _live_ and the _whole of Hoenn saw it_," the movement under the blanket seemed to indicate that she'd assumed a tighter fetal position as she spoke,"I was feeling kinda sick before the whole thing. I don't know if it was stage-fright or something I ate, but I still went up there, and I made a mess of things, and I'm never coming out," her words, rushed and losing coherence seemed to indicate she was near tears, "I think that from now on, I'll just live here."

He made a small motion with his head, a small gesture towards the Crobat, still perched on the sofa, a silent order, really, and the large bat moved its body to join that of the girl's. It nuzzled her through the blankets and chirruped at her loudly, obnoxiously demanding her to pay it attention; an obvious ploy to get her to come out from under her fortress of blankets. After all, the bat could do what he could not.

Eventually, the ploy seemed to work, because the girl sat up, blankets wrapped around her frame, knees very obviously tucked under her body and then, she offered the Crobat some simple scratches. Apparently, she seemed simply unable to deny the creature the attention and love it sought from her, even if she was feeling horribly ashamed and morose.

"Would you care to tell me why you went on that stage if you were feeling sick?" Maxie had lowered his voice, softened it as best he could (which wasn't all that much, really - but he did try), "I'm sure Stone would have been more than happy to find some sort of replacement for that speech, if you were feeling unwell."

"I-I…" her hand, which had been scratching the Crobat behind its ears, stilled, "I wanted to help," this was said in a small whisper, "I just… everyone's working _so hard_. Steven, Archie, Brandon, you… _everyone_ has something to do;_ something important_, and I… don't have anything anymore. I feel like I'm done; like there's nothing more I can do, and I _hate_ that feeling," she turned to face him then, looking almost fierce in her passion, "I want to be useful! I want to do things! I just… I just…" the fierceness dissolved away, and May let out a long sigh.

Her words came as a bit of a surprise for the Magma Leader; after all, if there was one person in all of Hoenn whom should not feel worthless, it was the girl sitting scant inches away from him. It was a baffling thought at first; how could she feel this way when she'd helped save the world? When she'd accomplished more in the span of a few years than many in their whole _lives_.

And that's when the answer came to him; she seemed to think she was expected to keep pulling off such stunts, and when life refused to toss her into such situations, she simply looked for ways to be useful. Hence her need to overachieve; she'd set her own bar of standards so sky high that the goal was impossible to reach, "May," her head remain bowed, her eyes closed, and so, he tried again, stressed her name out, "_May_," it seemed to work, because she finally lifted her head and looked up at him. Given that her attention was finally on him, he raised himself from the sofa and then offered her his hand to take, "I believe we have a pending conversation about overachieving, and it is high time we tackle it," when she seemed to hesitate to take his hand, he moved it in front of her again, coaxing, "Shall we?"

After a few seconds of hesitation, she slipped her hand in his, and allowed him to pull her off the sofa. Maxie offered the Crobat one look, and quietly told it to stay put before he led her out of the study and quietly down the halls of the Magma base. He led her through what was the entirety of the base, passing by most rooms, all the labs, and all the people working therein.

The tour was silent, but wasn't all too long, and by the time Maxie stopped, at the door of a particular lab facility, he turned to look at the young Champion, "What do you see?"

"People working," came the whispered response, "People doing important things."

"Yes," he said, "But do you know _why_?" this was very obviously not the question she'd expected to hear from him, because she turned to look up at him in confusion. Her expression was enough to signal him to elaborate, and thus, Maxie did, "Mainly due to _you_," he didn't wait for her to protest, and simply kept going, "You gave me… them,_ all of us_, a second chance, when we didn't really feel like we deserved one; by all means, you shouldn't have even bothered to look our way and yet… you did. You are the reason they can work on what you deem as 'important things'. You are the reason this region has changed," he let out a sigh he barely knew he'd been holding, "You are important, just being you. You have accomplished more than most of us _ever_ will, and as such, you are warranted a well deserved break," when she opened her mouth, he lifted a hand, as if to indicate he wasn't finished, and she closed it again, "You are allowed to make _mistakes_; you are only human, as we all are, and yet… I believe you hold yourself to higher standards than the rest of us. There is no need to overachieve, May; you will do many things in the future. Let them come at their own pace… there is no rush."

He watched as most of the sadness vanished from her eyes, and her shoulders, which had been hunched, lifted somewhat. Granted, she was entitled to feel morose once in awhile, but that didn't mean he had to _like it_; he felt a small surge of triumph, because _he did that_. He'd caused that change; that was _his_ doing.

It was around then that her smile finally blossomed, and the sense of triumph doubled for Maxie, "Thank you," that was all she said before she reached and closed the space between them, offering him the first hug he could remember in _ages_. He wasn't a very physically inclined man, and it showed in the awkward way he blinked, his arms hovering over her body as she squeezed his middle section, unable to find a place where they should rest.

The triumph turned to mild _panic_, and he looked around himself for an answer that simply _didn't seem to come_. In his search for said answer, his eyes locked with Tabitha's, whom had been working inside the lab, and the other man had the gall to _smirk_ at him and gesture that he should, perhaps, consider returning the hug? That was, after all, the social norm.

This thought led down a very, _very_ slippery slope indeed, but thankfully, the rather panicked Magma leader was saved from having to actually act when the girl finally pulled away from him, "Thank you," she said again, and that said, she stepped away from him and began walking away, down the hallway. She stopped by a teleporter and looked over her shoulder at him, ducking her head shyly away from him when their eyes met, and then vanishing from sight through the teleporter. Maxie figured it was some sort of trick in the lighting system around the base, but he could have sworn she was _blushing_.


End file.
